RIVALRY RUMBLE
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PLANT V. ARMWOOD
first team from Hillsborough County to win consecutive state championships. The Hawks knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs in 2005, then, the following season, Plant had a breakthrough. They beat Armwood in a standing-room-only
regional final at Dad’s Stadium en route to their first of four state titles. The 2008 season marked the last time these two teams played in the same classification and region. Armwood and Plant would no longer have to go through each other to claim a state championship. But that didn’t diminish the rivalry. Both programs now use the game as a gauge, a measuring stick of where they are in the season and what they need to do to reach the ultimate goal of another championship. “The greatest rivalries always have heated battles but ultimately reside in profound respect for each other,” Weiner said. “This game never disappoints.”
some of its importance and didn’t even make the schedule on a few occasions. But now it’s a district game and Largo and Clearwater are expected to be the top two teams in District 6A-7. Both programs are on the rise. The Packers have had winning seasons in four of the five years since Marcus Paschal took over in 2014. Mesick has had winning records at Clearwater every season since he arrived in 2015 and believes the 2019 Tornadoes can be as good, if not better, than his 2016 team that finished 10-2. Since the rivalry returned in 2015, Clearwater and Largo have split the last four games. The Packers won 39-27 last year and that win proved to be the
tiebreaker in the district. “We’re two talented teams in the same district,” Paschal said. “The game is always competitive and intense. Everything you want in high school football.”
it’s called the “9-Mile War.” There will be no district titles on the line because the two programs are in different classifications, but it’s not a game either side wants to make a habit of losing. The Pasco Pirates were once the class of the county. They won a state championship in 1992 and reached the state semifinals in 2008 and 2010. In recent years, Zephyrhills has taken over the mantle. The Bulldogs have won at least seven games every season since 2011 and are 29-6 in the past three seasons under coach Nick Carroll. Pasco has a 40-21 lead in the series but Zephyrhills has won the last four games by a combined margin of 187-29,
including a 49-0 blowout in 2018. That game came under a cloud of controversy after Pasco head coach Tom McHugh threatened to cancel the game because he felt Zephyrhills coaches recruited some of his players to play over there. McHugh has since left Pasco to take a job as an assistant coach at Wesley Chapel and new Pirates coach Jason Stokes is ready to take on the challenge overcoming Zephyrhills head on. “We’re not running from anything or any opponent,” Stokes said. “Zephyrhills is a very good team, a big rival and this community is hungry to make it a rivalry again.”
It’s the improbable rivalry. The one that pits rural vs. urban elite. Seffner vs. South Tampa. The Armwood-Plant rivalry is one born, not of neighborhood bragging rights, but from shared success and a quest to be the best. “Many people think that it is the best rivalry because it is an epic battle between polar opposites,” Plant head coach Robert Weiner said, “but the truth is that it is a monumental match-up because we are way more alike than we are different.” They share a love for titles. Armwood claimed a championship first. The Hawks won back-to-back state titles in 2003 and 2004, becoming the
LARGO V. CLEARWATER Clearwater head coach Don Mesick calls the football game with Largo, “the original rivalry in Pinellas County.” Only five miles separate Largo High and Clearwater High, but as far as the Tornadoes and Packers are concerned, they are many miles apart. Back in the day, it was considered to be the game between the “farmers” (Largo) and the “city folk” (Clearwater). The game used to be played in November, on Thanksgiving weekend to be specific, back when there were fewer high schools in the county and a big game could draw close to 10,000 people. As the county grew, the game lost
PASCO V. ZEPHYRHILLS When it comes to football in Pasco County, only nine miles separate two proud football communities. When Pasco and Zephyrhills play at the end of the regular season
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